Halo: Xenomorphs Rising

Chapter 8 - War

Relu awoke. She remembered everything in horrible detail. Her pride had prevented her from crying out at first. Guilt was all she felt now. She struggled weakly at some kind of hard resin that coated all of her body, save her head. She knew that such emotions were for the weak, but she almost cried. She was going to die in some terrible, unholy way, and the best friend she had ever had in her life was probably going to die because of her. Maybe he had woken up and tried to save her after she had been knocked unconscious, maybe he had been ripped into pieces. The unknown churned her stomach and made her want to throw up. She sobbed, unable to help it now. She had never felt this helpless since she was but a youngling being bullied by her brothers.

Quinn approached the gaping hanger of the Scientist’s Dream, the Weyland ship. He hopped up onto the raised floor and stalked over to the door that led into the interior of the ship. It was sealed shut by some rock-hard resin. He growled in frustration, pulling the Assault Rifle off his back and aiming it at the blockage. He fired two clips in total before enough of the stuff had been damaged for him to start pulling it off in heavy chunks. He slammed his hand on the door control. The door, split in two and the two halves started to recede into the wall. They stalled halfway. Quinn clenched his fist then, sick of the obstruction, kicked it down with his boot. The thin metal collapsed onto the floor on the other side. Quinn stepped over it, not stopping to admire how much strength he had gained through this whole experience. An Xenomorph pooped out of the shadows next to him. Not missing a beat, Quinn shoved a plasma grenade in its extending inner maw. The creature let out a screech of surprise as Quinn kept walking calmly, not speeding up in the slightest. Anger and hate had robbed him of his fear. The creature exploded with a wave of acidic blood, only just far enough away not to get on Quinn. An Xenomorph dropped from the roof in front of him, screeching intimidatingly. Quinn raised his pistol and shot it eight times in the face; a full clip. The creature squealed as its blood melted a hole in the floor. It scampered off into the vents, hoping on ambushing him from above again. Quinn stepped over the edge of the hole and fell into the lower level of the ship. The Xenomorph above vocalised its protests, but didn’t follow. Quinn found himself by the entrance of the engine room, the heart of the ship. He kicked down the door again, and was met with humid air and unusual heat. He guessed it would be the perfect place for a nest. He charged inside, firing his Assault Rifle’s last clip in one direction and Relu’s Carbine in the other. His Assault Rifle clicked empty, so he chucked it at an Xenomorph that got too close. He reloaded the Carbine and pulled out his SOCOM again, filling in his missing weapon’s place. He was by the end of it surrounded by dead and dying Xenomorphs. Several people; humans, brutes, grunts Sangheili, were suspended on the wall, held in place by the same resin he kept seeing everywhere. In front of every one of them was an egg. Some open and empty, some closed, and some just beginning to open. A spider-like creature with a long tail crawled out of one of the spherical objects. Right. In front. Of Relu.

“Fuck off,” Quinn muttered; firing a bullet straight through what he guessed was the head of the creature. It hissed, or its blood did, as it hit the floor. Quinn smashed the butt if his pistol against the resin on Relu, then suddenly remembered her energy sword, retrieving it from his belt. He sliced away the hunks of strange material with super-heated plasma. He stared at the dead creature on the ground. “What is it?” he asked, glancing over to Relu.

“I believe it... implants eggs into your chest... and when the egg hatches...” Relu explained cautiously. Quinn already knew the result; he had seen it in the bridge of Taste of Hope. He looked at the ones who had closed eggs in front of them and cut them down. He hated leaving the others, but he knew there was nothing anyone could do for them. He gave them a quick and painless death with his SOCOM, going around the room until there was one human marine left. Quinn stalled. Up on the wall was his brother, Fergus. The gun quivered in his hand. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and saw Relu there.

“I am sorry Quinn, but we must leave.” Quinn bit his lip.

“Qui-i-in?” Fergus asked with a wavering voice. Quinn screwed his eyes shut, looking away as he held his breath, trying to stop the gun from shaking.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to his only remaining family member. His finger didn’t want to obey him, but he forced himself to pull the trigger. The bang seemed to signify the bursting of Quinn’s heart. He would never forget this. It would haunt him for years to come. He sniffed, put on a brave face, and turned back to his now greatly increased number of friends. Relu was steadily convincing them to trust each other. Two unarmed ODSTs glared sideways at five bristling Sangheili. A third marine was retrieving Quinn’s Assault Rifle, for which he happened to have ammo. They were a very raggedy group. One of the ODSTs was missing her helmet, and the other one didn’t have a SOCOM like she and Quinn did. Two of the Sangheili were holding plasma pistols, and a third held an energy sword. All five of them were missing at least one piece of armour. There was one grunt cowering next to Quinn, apparently taking a liking to its saviour. Relu was reloading her Carbine, and Quinn was duel-wielding her energy sword and his SOCOM. The Elite with the energy sword and sage coloured armour spoke up.

“Relu says to us that humans are equally worthy to the Great Journey as we are. I have had my doubts but seeing you fight like that...” he paused. “I have been wrong before,” he finished cryptically. Quinn nodded appreciatively and motioned towards the door.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” he suggested gruffly. After a few murmurs of agreement, they set off. Quinn lead the group through the maze of corridors with Relu brining up the rear. It seemed... too quiet.

“I would have expected there to be creatures barring our path by now,” one of the unarmed Elites said. The other unarmed one muttered something in agreement. There was a steady drip drip coming from somewhere, but otherwise it was silent. As they approached the hangar door, they were assaulted with all kinds of different sounds. They looked outside towards the barren plains caused by the crash at the war. There were more creatures battling the Xenomorphs. They had pale skin, long hair and mandibles, though most of them wore masks. They had high-tech looking armour that could turn them invisible, Quinn knew this because he could see them appearing and disappearing randomly for no apparent reason. And with what Relu had said earlier, having the same technology as the Covenant wasn’t so far-fetched.

“The Ancestors,” the green-armoured Elite gasped.

“Crap,” Quinn muttered.